


I of the Storm

by orphan_account



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 19:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9399965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Much to Emma's surprise, Regina is there to witness her death after all. And maybe...just maybe, Emma was wrong to be afraid. Because with Regina there, there's no chance the brunette is ever going to let her die. A Swanqueen one-shot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the OUAT universe. All characters belong to Adam and Eddie, the show's creators. I promise that my writing is done purely for recreational purposes only. No ill harm is intended.
> 
> This is just something I wrote to try and get my feet wet again. It's been a long time since I've written anything, and sometimes I just need to ease into it.

_If I could face them_   
_If I could make amends with all my shadows_   
_I'd bow my head and welcome them_   
_But I feel it burning_   
_Like when the winter wind_   
_Stops my breathing_   
_Are you really gonna love me when I'm gone?_   
_I fear you won't_   
_I fear you don't_

It is a dark and moonless night. It is eerily quiet. And Emma tries to remind herself that she should be frightened - both of the situation she finds herself in, and of the way that the fog seems to be billowing off of the warm water of the bay in great, thick, swathes. She can feel the cool mist suspended in the air tingle against the skin of her neck. And without thinking about it, she finds herself shifting on the wooden planks underneath her feet. Without warning, her body stiffens again, as she feels Gideon's warm body at her back again, reminding her that she isn't alone.

"No one's coming," he speaks in an icy, clipped voice. "You overestimated your worth, Emma. And now you're going to die in the same way you came into this world, isolated and alone."

"You're wrong," Emma tells him, with her voice weighted in immense conviction. "I won't lie. In fact, I'm even willing to admit that I used to think as you do. It haunted me for most of my life. I grew up without a family, without parents, and I couldn't help but feel as if I didn't matter. I thought that I would never matter. I was alone and afraid. But I've learned these last few years that I've never been alone. Even when I was alone in this world, they were here with me. So, I can tell you with utmost certainty that you're wrong. Even if you kill me now, without a soul around to see it, I won't be alone. Because they'll be with me to the end."

"Emma!" Emma's head jerks towards the sound of the familiar voice. She can hear Regina's heavy footfalls against the wooden planks of the boardwalk as the brunette sprints towards them faster than the blonde would have ever thought possible. Part of her honestly believed that she was going to die without ever seeing another living soul. She had felt nothing but hopelessness, ever since she was taken by Gideon in the final battle. But as her eyes meet those of Regina for the first time, Emma feels hope swell up inside of her.

"Regina," Emma breathes in surprise. She can't help but feel a bit shocked. In Emma's earlier visions of her death, Regina was always noticeably absent. In fact, the brunette was never anywhere remotely near her. Something was terribly wrong if Regina was here.

"Emma," Regina tries to calm the frantic beating of her heart, as the man in the black hood, forces Emma to take a step back. "Thank goodness you're okay. When I noticed you were missing, I feared that you'd already been killed."

"Try not to be too disappointed," Emma jokes. "Where are my parents?"

"They're fine," Regina reassures her. "They're with Henry."

"I grow weary of this incessant chattering," Gideon growls. "It's time all of this was finished."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Regina hisses, as she takes a step forwards. A fireball springs to life in Regina's hand, as she's suddenly aching for a fight. No one harms her family and gets away with it.

"Uh uh uh," Emma hears the voice from behind her chide the brunette, as Regina lifts the fireball in her hand higher. "You wouldn't want to accidentally hit your precious savior, now would you?" Emma grunts as the arm around her neck squeezes. Regina stiffens, her eyes blazing in anger.

"R-Regina," Emma grits out through clenched teeth. "It's okay."

"How can you possibly say that?" Regina says angrily. "Jesus, Emma, nothing about this situation is remotely okay!" It seems that they've reverted back into bickering like a married couple, and the thought nearly makes Emma laugh. But then, that feeling is easily quashed when she sees how panicked the love of her life truly is. Regina is flipping the hell out, though the brunette is clearly trying to hide it."

Regina tries to hide the fear and exasperation in her voice as she says her next words, but she does a piss poor job of it. "What in the hell were you thinking?"

"I know," Emma replies, as she feels herself forced another step backwards. "I'm sorry, Regina. I…I know what I promised you, but I couldn't. I couldn't let you do it. I'm sorry."

"And so you just let yourself be taken?" Regina is incredulous now. She lets out a roar of a scream, and her eyes burn with fury. "I could fucking kill you myself right now!"

"You could," Emma agreed. "But I'm kind of hoping that you won't. Otherwise, this was all for naught." Emma lets out a sigh, disheartened by how hurt Regina suddenly looks. "Listen, Regina - You said that I would know what to do when the time came. And whether or not you agree with my choices, I need you to hold onto that belief. I need you to have the confidence that I made the right choice."

"Damn it, Emma," Regina groaned in frustration, "how can you possibly be so cavalier about all of this? It's down right infuriating."

"If I truly sound Cavalier about it all, then I'm doing a good job of putting up a false front. The truth is, I'm terrified. But - I'm ready to accept my fate. I think I was ready a long time ago."

"Emma," Regina says with a look of fear in her eyes. It seems as if the time for confessions has come. "I…I don't know what to do."

"Yes, you do," Emma tells her, emphatically. "You do what you've always done. You persevere. You make it through what is about to happen, and then you move on. It's going to be fine. You're going to be fine."

"Damn it, Emma!" Regina says as she chokes back tears. "You make it sound so easy, but you have no idea how difficult this is for me. You're my best friend. I don't know how to go on without you in my life."

_And it echoes when I breathe_   
_Until all you see is my ghost_   
_Wish you could see_

_And they call me under_   
_And I'm shaking like a leaf_   
_And they call me under_   
_And I wither underneath_   
_In this storm_

"But I _do_ know how hard this is," Emma tells her, as tears start to spill from her own eyes. "Regina, I…I love you. Listen, I know I've never told you that before, but I do. I _love_ you, Regina, and I can't be as sorry as I should be for protecting you. I just can't."

"Why does this always happen?" Regina asks her. "Why do I always lose the people I love?"

"I don't know," Emma tells her honestly. "But I…I think in some sick twisted way it's because you're the only one strong enough to handle it all. I…I'm sorry, Regina."

Regina's sudden exclamation is strangled, as the hood falls back, and the figure is revealed for the first time.

"It's alright," Emma, says as the Dark One's son drags her back one final step. "There's nothing that you can do. This is the way it had to end. It was fated to be this way. I knew it the second I saw his face."

"You… You know him?" Regina's expression was full of shock. The fireball held upwards in her palm starts to flicker and die. "Truly, you've seen him before?"

"I have a past with one of Gold's sons," Emma laughs, though the sound is somehow hollow, "Why wouldn't I know the other?"

"Emma," Regina feels her throat constrict, "I…I love you, too."

"I know…"

"You've known?" Regina asks out of surprise. "All this time?"

"No…" Emma shakes her head. "Not for long, but I do know now. I think I've known it for a while - ever since you went to the Enchanted Forest to bring me home. You were my Prince, Regina. You saved me from myself."

Emma suddenly realizes that she's trembling. She can feel her arms tremble, much as they did with each vision of her death, and she knows. It's close...closer still. With each breath, with each beat of her heart, her life is dwindling. It's all come down to this moment.

"Aww," the voice behind her taunts, "Isn't love sweet."

"Regina," Emma tells her. "You need to go. You shouldn't have to witness what is about to happen. Not again. Please, do it for me. Go."

"I've already lost you once," Regina tells her, the brunette's eyes glistening in the waning light. "I can't do it again."

"You can't win," a chilling, malevolent voice whispers in Emma's ear. Emma grunts as she feels steel slide into her back. The blade slides in like the barrier of her skin is nothing. Emma lets out a grunt as her knees threaten to buckle, and her back alights in fire.

_I am a stranger_   
_Are you really gonna love me when I'm gone?_   
_With all my thoughts_   
_And all my faults_   
_I feel it biting_   
_I feel it break my skin so uninviting_   
_Are you really gonna need me when I'm gone?_   
_I fear you won't_   
_I fear you don't_

"Emma!" Regina screams as she takes a step forwards.

"It's okay," Emma tries to tell her, but it comes out as a strangled groan, as he twists the Dark One's dagger in her back. _"I'm not okay,"_ Emma thinks suddenly as she feels her body grow weaker by the second.

"I'm going to make you watch as I snuff the light out of her," he continues telling Emma, with his breath ghosting over the shell of her ear. "I'm going to make you watch as I take everything from you that ever _meant_ anything."

"No," Emma grunts, as she feels him twist the knife. "I won't let you. I won't let you hurt her!"

"Emma - Emma, please," Regina begs her.

"You can't beat me, Emma Swan," he says loudly. "You'll never win."

"Emma," Regina's eyes bore into her own. She feel likes she's betraying the brunette as a thought pops into her head. Maybe there's a way out of this, after all.

"Well," Emma grunts, "You know what they say…" Emma closes her eyes and focuses on her hand.

_And it echoes when I breathe_   
_Until all you see is my ghost_   
_Empty vessel, crooked teeth_   
_Wish you could see_

_"Please work_ ," she thinks. _Please. Please. Please_. She had to believe that she still had some sort of pull on the sword from her tenure as the Dark One.

Emma's eyes shoot open again, as she feels the weight of heavy steel in her hand. She can feel the cool metal through the pommel of the sword.

"If you can't beat em', join em'," Emma says through clenched teeth, as she lifts the sword, angles it towards her stomach, and thrusts the blade backwards in one quick action, impaling herself and the Dark One on the long silvery blade at the same time.

"NO!" Regina screams hoarsely as she watches the blade slide home, all the way to the pommel. She's powerless to do anything as she watches it happen. The shock of seeing it all, is paralyzing.

Emma lets out a gasp of surprise as her hands fall away from the pommel. She feels the Damien's hold on her neck loosen. She can hear the figure's gurgling breaths falter behind her, and know that she's hit her mark. The knowledge that she's won after all, is oddly freeing. Then, with a pang of sadness, she realizes that she's taken her life in the process. She's not going to get to see her son, or the rest of her family again.

"Fuck," Emma whispers, although it is little more than a grunt.

"Emma," Regina sobs brokenly, the word heavy with feeling, as she watches blood fill the blonde's mouth, and spill out of it and onto the blonde's boots.

"Take care of Henry for me," Emma tells her, her eyes boring into the brunette's molten chocolate eyes. "I love you."

Regina swears that she sees a hint of a smile on the blonde's face as she falls backwards into the Bay with a splash.

_And they call me under_   
_And I'm shaking like a leaf_   
_And they call me under_   
_And I wither underneath_   
_In this storm, I feel it_

Regina cries out, her screams full of agony as she watches Emma and the Damien fall, splashing into the water of the Bay.

No. It's not supposed to happen like this.

When Emma hits the ice-cold water of the bay, she receives one hell of a wake-up call. Her eyes shoot open, only to find that her vision is severely distorted by the dark, murky waters and the new swirls of color swirling before her eyes. She sinks deeper and deeper into the water, watching as a whole spectrum of color passes before her eyes. Before it dwindles into darker and darker shades. In fact, Emma continues to sink down into the depths until she can't see anything, but darkness. Her lungs burn like hell, and her mind starts to scream and cry out for oxygen, as it receives none. Emma fights her body's protests, and its sudden urge to breathe. She fights for as long as she possibly can, but ultimately, the need for oxygen wins out. Her body reacts instinctively, as carbon dioxide reaches dangerous levels in her lungs and the rest of her body. Coughs wrack through her body and she unwillingly sucks in water through her nose and mouth, as she tries to breathe the only substance around. She swallows, and her body's protests became even more violent. Her whole body shakes from the cold of the water entering her respiratory passageways. Slowly, her mind and body start to let go. Her arms and legs stop working completely, and an overwhelming relentless need for sleep takes over. Then just as suddenly as it starts, it stops. Emma relaxes as darkness suddenly transforms into an array of bright colors. It is unlike anything she's ever seen before. It is so beautiful. Emma's heartbeat roars in her ears, and then her hearing goes completely. Emma groans and closes her eyes, as the colors and the surrounding light suddenly became blinding. Everything fades from around her. It is a lot different than she would have ever expected. It is peaceful almost, serene. Emma feels calm. There isn't any pain at all. Finally, with one final feeble attempt at breathing Emma lets go of life altogether, and light fades suddenly to darkness.

Regina takes one quick look into the water where the ripples originated, and observes the red swirling around the water, as droplets of blood met water. She takes a deep breath into her lungs, and then dives into the frigid water of the bay without hesitation. The resounding splash is loud, and sends a fresh assortment of ripples coursing through the water. It seems like it was already so long ago that Emma had disappeared under the glassy surface. Regina squints, trying to see past the surface of the murky water. But ultimately, she can't see anything but the few beams of light that are strong enough to penetrate the surface. Meanwhile, Regina propels herself deeper and deeper into the frigid water with determined strokes. The icy water bites into her skin in the worst way. Her clothes seem to weigh about a thousand pounds on her, as the water pressure grows around her. Regina swallows, struggling to alleviate the painful pressure against her eardrums as she descends further and further into the water. It takes a lot of concentration for the brunette to slowly expel her breaths without sucking water in. The cold temperature of the water doesn't make it any easier. As she starts to run out of air, and the painful burn building in her lungs, Regina starts frantically swinging her arms from side to side.

Regina is desperately hoping to get lucky and find Emma in the dark suffocating waters. She continues to fight her mind's commands to head back towards the surface. ' _Not without her_ ' she thinks determinedly. ' _Come on, Emma. Where are you_?' Just when she is about to give up, Regina's arm finally knocks against something solid. Regina's head suddenly swivels toward the mass, and she freezes as she's left looking straight at Emma. Regina feels a chill course through her as she observes the eerie way in which the blonde's flaxen hair swishes back and forth in the water, while the water's currents pull at her in ways that are oddly haunting. Regina notices with alarm that Emma is still impaled on the blade, and that the Dark One's son is nowhere to be found. Regina quickly wraps her arm around Emma's middle, avoiding the sharp blade, and kicks like hell for the surface.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Regina breaks the surface, with a gasp. The older woman gulps down air, hacking and coughing as her body tries to overcome the extreme cold of the water, and the residual burning in her lungs. She has very little fat on her bones, and so there isn't much there to hold in her body heat. Regina's arms and legs are starting to break down, making her have to fight even harder to keep herself from surrendering to the cold water. It feels like a thousand tiny knives are stabbing her all over her body. She paddles awkwardly in the water. The dead weight of Emma's body in her arms keeps pushing her under the surface, but every time it happens, Regina fights like hell to break the surface again. Regina's heart rate seems to be torn between slowing down and speeding up. The cold is slowing her body's metabolism, and therefore her heart, while the adrenaline from her fight or flight response, is encouraging her to fight harder.

"Here!" Regina yells, as she drew nearer to the dock. She spies Charming's arm, reaching out for them, and says desperately, "Take her!"

Regina's rasps and gasping breaths seem to be getting feebler. Regina is dunked unceremoniously under the water as she awkwardly hands off Emma's motionless body to the man she knows must be thoroughly devastated. She knows David had trusted her to keep his baby alive. And she had let him down - she had failed him in the worst way. She didn't know how he would ever be able to forgive her for this. David was Emma's father, after all.

Regina wanted to let out a sigh of relief as Emma was pulled from her arms and was deposited on the ground, but she could scarcely manage that.

Regina's teeth are chattering as her hand holds tightly onto the edge of the dock with what little strength she had left. She's tempted to let go, as she starts to feel the overwhelming fatigue taking over her body. But she realizes now, that she can't do that. Henry needs her now more than ever.

"Regina!" Hook exclaims, as she catches sight of her and rushes over. Hook lets out a growl, as he grabs Regina by the arms and starts to pull the older woman from the water. His muscles quaver and nearly give out on him under the strain of Regina's weight, but the man refuses to give up. Regina can't speak. Her breaths come in shallow rasps, and her whole body is convulsing in violent, wracking shivers that leave her unable to pull herself up and out of the water. Finally, Regina gets a good grip on a plank. Her upper body is suddenly out of the water enough to where Hook is able to grab her under her arms, and wrench Regina from the water with another pronounced grunt. Regina is surprised at the tenderness with which the pirate lowers her onto the dock.

He finds himself watching Regina as she lays there, with her chest heaving up and down in the cool air.

"You okay?" he asks the woman worriedly.

"Yeah," Regina rasps. "I'm fine. Go help David."

Hook then rushes over to where David is huddled over Emma's motionless body. He pulls off his cloak, and drapes it over Emma's torso. Regina notices with slight alarm that the sword Emma had used to impale the Dark One's son, was no longer inside of Emma. Regina realizes then that must have magicked the item away without thought.

With trembling hands, David feels for a pulse. His hands are shaking so badly he can't seem to distinguish one sensation from another. Emma is so cold. Her lips and skin are blue, and David is afraid she might not be alive. The blonde holds his breath as he waits for the thrum of a heartbeat, but it doesn't come. He realizes then, that he was right to be afraid. Part of this is so surreal. He was sure that he would surely feel the moment that his daughter left this world. After all, he felt such a love for his little girl, and had a deep connection to her.

"No," David let out a mournful sound that caught Regina's attention.

Regina's own heart stopped as she realized then that Emma's chest wasn't moving up and down. Hook finds himself frozen, as David blanches and kneels low over Emma's chest. Emma wasn't breathing.

Regina scrambles over to Emma's side.

"She's not breathing." David announces. "The wounds are gone, but she's...she's not breathing! I don't know what to do Regina. I've trained for this. But how the hell am I supposed to do this? She's my daughter."

Her father was right. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. Regina quickly leans forwards so that her cheek is close to Emma's nose and mouth. She waits and hoped to feel a wisp of warm breath against her cheek, but like Charming, she feels nothing.

"She must have breathed in some water," Regina tells them, "We need to perform CPR."

Regina knows that she needs to do something now, or Emma will have permanent brain damage. At most, the brain could go without for ten minutes, before it suffered irreparable damage. But in all honesty, you are tempting fate if you went more than six. Regina does a head tilt-chin lift manuever - tilting Emma's head back in order to open up Emma's passageways. Then, she pulled Emma's jaw forwards and gently prized open her love's mouth.

"You don't get to leave me, Emma," Regina tells her. "You don't get to leave me like this. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

This earns her a strange and devastating look from Hook. Regina meets Hook's eyes for a moment, and surprisingly a look of understanding passes between them. She realizes then that he's known all along that Emma's heart belonged to another, and he still loves Emma anyway.

Shoving all of those thoughts from her mind, Regina forces herself to focus on the task at hand. None of those things would ever come to fruition if she couldn't save Emma now. Quickly, Regina takes a deep breath and darts down, forcing her own breath into Emma's mouth and lungs, as she holds the blonde's nasal passages shut. Regina takes a labored breath of her own as she swivels on her knees and promptly starts compressions, counting aloud as she forces her hands down ruthlessly on Emma's chest. Regina flinches visibly as she feels ribs and cartilage crack under the exertion of her own fists as she counts to five, then fifteen, then twenty and beyond. Her body shudders as she thinks about the sort of pain that Emma will be in afterwards. If the blonde could only just make it through…that is. Finally she reaches thirty. David delivers another pair of breaths. Regina watches this with intense scrutiny, but overall, she was very impressed. As soon as he's finished with his breaths, Regina continues the compressions without pausing. It is like this for nearly two minutes as they try to get Emma back. Frustration grows with each passing second.

"Come on, Emma," Regina breathes as she starts to lose hope. "I love you. I love you so much. Please…"

Sweat coated much of Regina and David's body with the exertion and stress of the moment. They get no response from Emma.

"Mom!" Henry shouts as he hops over one obstacle after another. There are a lot of weapons and bodies lying about, and Regina doesn't want to think about whether those bodies are alive or not. The young boy has one hell of a stitch in his side, and so he is awkwardly hunched over, clutching his side with his good hand as he reaches them. "What?…"

He can hardly believe what he is seeing. Emma is sprawled out awkwardly over the planks of the dock. Through observing the way that Regina and David are hunched over Emma's body, it doesn't take much for him to realize that something is wrong. Henry gasps as he lays eyes on the blue, cyanotic skin of Emma's body. But somehow, none of that is as devastating as the fact that she still wasn't breathing. Oh god, his mother isn't breathing. Emma was still. Too still. She can't be dead. He refuses to even think about that.

Regina chokes on her breath as she realizes for the first time, that Emma isn't coming back. It had been so long already, too long, and Emma hadn't come back. "No…no…no…no," The usually immaculately put together woman suddenly started coming apart in front of them all, and it was unbearably difficult to watch. "No. Please, god," Regina breathes in denial as she kneels down over Emma again, checking for breathing sounds. As she pulls back she freezes momentarily, seeing the almost blue pallor of Emma's skin was a reality she wasn't prepared for. "Emma, d-don't do this to me. Please."

Tears streamed down Regina's face as she took a vice grip of Emma's hand.

"Emma," she speaks finally. "Love, I need you to listen to me… I know that you can hear me." She chokes on her next breath and is sent into an array of violent coughs. "Emma, I know that it's tempting to let go. Believe me, I do. But I need you to come back to me. Please. I need you. Your family needs you. Do you understand me? Emma… Emma, please. I…I love you. God, I love you so much. Please… Please just come back. I promise that I'll do better. I'll be better." Regina is forced out of her trance as David erupted into a series of coughs. He was wheezing pretty badly.

"I'm sorry," he rasps as he struggles to fill his lungs with air. Regina knows that for every second that he spends coughing, that Emma wasn't getting oxygen.

"Let me." Regina orders, "We'll switch places. Do you think that you can handle the compressions?"

"I've got it," David offers as he takes her place.

She would do what her best friend and lover couldn't, just as she had always done for her before. Regina had to save Emma. Emma had to be okay, because Regina loved her, and because she honestly had no idea how to live without Emma in her life.

"Please," she rasps in between breaths. Without reservations, Regina began stroking the side of Emma's face, just hoping that her touch would serve as some sort of anchor, a sort of memory for her best friend to hang on to. She needed Emma to feel her presence. She begged and pleaded in anyway she knew how.

Hook can see the pain and the exasperation in Regina's eyes as she stared at Emma's motionless body.

Tears streaked down Regina's cheeks as she pressed her lips to Emma's once, twice, three times. "I love you," Regina sobbed. "I love you, Emma."

* * *

It happened so fast that they could scarcely react. They were all finally rewarded as Emma's chest shot into the air and water sprayed from her nose and mouth. Suddenly the blonde was coughing; her whole body convulsing as the young, beautiful, blonde came back to life. Regina's heart sputtered in her chest, her whole body tensing as it reacted to the sudden response. Emma's eyes snapped open, as a groan fell from parted lips. Emma's muscles seized up, and she quickly tried to push herself up off of the cold, damp planks beneath her. Her eyes darted around in disorientation. Regina threw out her arms, attempting to gently push Emma back down. She was surprised at the strength with which Emma fought back. Regina could tell that Emma was scared, frightened. Overtaken by her own emotions, Regina threw her arms around Emma clinging to her best friend as she buried her face in her neck. She gently rocked Emma back and forth. Sobs wracked through her body, as the blonde clung to her just as tightly.

Regina wondered if Emma was even aware of what was going on, but she couldn't bring herself to release her hold on her love just yet. She needed the contact just as badly, if not more, than Emma did. She took one deep breath and then another, just trying to breathe Emma in. She needed to convince her body and mind that the blonde was alive.

"You saved me," Emma spoke in disbelief. Slowly, Regina forced herself to let go. Emma's body was still shaking.

"Easy," Regina breathed between tears, "Easy, darling. You need to relax. I need you to relax," She coached her lover softly. Emma's beautiful green eyes met hers.

"You saved me," Emma repeated, while looking into Regina's eyes.

"Yes," Regina nodded.

"With true love's kiss," Emma spoke breathlessly.

"Yes," Regina responded patiently, as if she was anxious and more than willing to answer any outrageous questions that the blonde wanted to ask. She realized that she had all of the time in the world for the blonde.

"You said that you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" Emma said uncertainly, turning it into a question at the very last minute.

"Yes," Regina answered automatically, but then quickly catches herself. "Wait, you heard that?" Regina suddenly laughed.

"Did you mean it?" Emma asked softly, her eyes never leaving Regina's.

"Y-Yes," Regina said breathlessly. "I meant every word."

"Good," Emma told her. "Because I want that too."

"Y-You do?" Regina smiled, her eyes wide.

"I do," Emma nodded. "I want that more than you could possibly ever know. I've wanted it for a very _very_ long time."

"You scared the hell out of me," Regina told her suddenly, as if she were admitting a secret.

"The truth is, I think I scared the hell out of myself," Emma laughed, "Of course I had good reason to. I nearly drowned, but I…" Emma's words are cut off as Regina's lips were suddenly on hers, swallowing whatever Emma had been about to say. But Emma didn't mind it. Not in the least. The feeling of Regina's lips on hers was almost too good to be true. Emma moaned as she reached up to frame Regina's face with her hands, holding the brunette there for as long as she can stand it.

When the kiss finally broke, Emma's eyes were beaming with love. "I knew it. I knew you would find me."

"Of course I did," Regina said as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "One thing you should know by now, Emma Swan, is that I will _always_ find you."

"Hey," Charming interjected, his eyes full of mirth. "That's my line! You just stole my _line_!"

This earned a boisterous laugh from Henry, who lowered himself next to his moms.

"Oh, god," Regina spoke with a groan, "When did we start sounding like your parents?"

Emma's subsequent laughter warmed Regina's very heart.

"I love you," Henry said to both of them, as he pulls both of his mothers into a crushing embrace, one not unlike the many they'd shared over the years. Both Emma and Regina squeezed their eyes shut as they relished the feeling, of being a family, and of being a single unit so close with one another that they could not be torn apart...no matter the circumstances.

"We love you, too," Emma and Regina spoke as one, without even trying.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's it for now! Please share your thoughts and reviews with me, as I always think they make me a better writer! I have so much love for you all, Swen! *hugs*


End file.
